SUMTER COUNTY SCHOOLS ENTER THREE TEAMS IN GEORGIA ODYSSEY OF THE MIND

ODYSSEY OF THE MIND TEAM FROM SUMTER COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL

SUMTER COUNTY SCHOOLS ENTER THREE TEAMS IN GEORGIA ODYSSEY OF THE MIND For eight of the past ten years, Odyssey of The Mind teams from Sumter County Schools have advanced from regional competition to state at Columbus State University and on to World Finals. This year, three teams, one from Sumter County Elementary and two from Sumter County Middle School, are eager to repeat this mission and join other teams at World Finals in Ames, Iowa.

Teams make innovative contraptions and incorporate artistic elements into their solutions. They might be asked to write an original musical score to play on a "new" type of instrument, or to build a robot with human characteristics, or to perform tasks using a chain reaction of snapping mousetraps.

With some former experience and some new members of the seven member team, the group chose Problem 1: Ooh-Motional Vehicle. The problem is open to Grade Divisions I, II, and III and requires teams to design, build, and drive a vehicle that will travel a course where it will encounter three different situations. The vehicle will display a different human emotion for each encounter and one will cause it to travel in reverse. The team will create a theme for the presentation that incorporates the vehicle and the different emotions. The emphases will be on the technical risk-taking and creativity of the vehicle's engineering for travel and change of emotional appearance.

Success of any Odyssey of the Mind team requires extensive time-donation by parents, team coaches and students. Other teams in the competition will be charged with two other selected problems.

Team discussion and problem selection began before Christmas. Discussion about the creative solution of the problem, the back drops, props and 8-minute script is now in progress. Each of the three team has registered a judge who will represent them at Judge's Training in early February. These judges will not judge local teams and are asked to be involved as judges for state competition.

Here, teams members of The Motion Problem #1, gather to discuss and refine their long term presentation. From left, Coach James Beckett, Kelly Ingle, Sarah Dye, Will McCoy, Andrew Richmond, Hector Lepiz, Jacob Pritchard and Nathan Deanon.